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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29156712">Bugbear</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot'>Onehelluvapilot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Febuwhump [23]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Healer Lancelot (Merlin), Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:02:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>983</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29156712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin wakes up in the woods after being mauled. Fortunately, Lancelot is there to help</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lancelot &amp; Merlin (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Febuwhump [23]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134998</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bugbear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Part of my Magical Healer Lancelot series, but you don't need to have read it to understand this</p><p>Betaed by LiGi</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There was a hand on his head when Merlin awoke, long fingers carded into his hair with a familiar warm palm placed on his forehead. He knew it was Lancelot without even opening his eyes. Why was the knight touching him like that, he wondered. He supposed that he could ask, but his mouth felt like it was full of wool when he tried to open it. His head was pounding as well. Maybe that was why his friend was holding him, to try to soothe his headache? But how would he have known about it, unless Merlin had told him before he’d gone to sleep. Which he didn’t think he had. He struggled to recall what he had been doing before falling asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin?” Lancelot asked quietly. His voice sounded strained. Was something wrong? “Can you hear me? If you can, please, please just try not to move.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That, of course, only worried the warlock, whose eyes snapped open as he tested all his limbs. He cried out as agony shot through him, his vision whiting out from the pain. Lancelot, and his soft healing magic that Merlin could now feel surging over his body, was the only thing that kept him tied to consciousness when he wanted nothing more than to return to peaceful oblivion. When he could breathe again, he was able to recognize the feeling of the sorcerer drawing the pain carefully from him. It wasn’t all pulled out, probably because it looked like Lancelot was having enough trouble with what he was already doing, but it was brought down to a manageable level. The knight was bent over him, the one hand still in his hair and the other splayed over his chest. His jaw was clenched and his face shimmered with sweat, and his eyes were open and glowing their distinctive purple hue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, try to stay still,” he repeated between gasps for air. “I need to be able to concentrate on healing you, and it doesn’t help when you make the pain worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Merlin replied in a weak voice. Even with that being said, he tried to lift his head to at least see where he was hurt. Lancelot quickly pushed him back down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t look,” he ordered him. “It’ll be better if you don’t look.” That pronouncement made fear spike through Merlin’s body almost as severely as the pain. Lancelot knew Merlin wasn’t squeamish, even when the blood and injuries were his own. As a physician’s assistant, and a powerful warlock with a penchant for getting himself hurt anyway, he couldn’t be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How bad is it?” he whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t want to know,” Lancelot replied, equally quietly. It was a little harder to see where he was looking with his eyes glowing purple, but Merlin thought he could see his gaze flick between his face and his torso. Gut wound then, probably. “Honestly, Merlin, I’m starting to think you might be immortal from the very fact that you didn’t die before I could even get to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin swallowed. A sort of numbness had washed over his body, probably a result of Lancelot hiding his pain behind magic, so he had no way to tell for himself how bad a shape he really was in. He had a feeling his healer friend wasn’t going to give him details, and it would be mostly healed by the time he was done. The sorcerer-knight rarely sealed wounds completely, since it was easier to explain away injuries if there was at least a scratch instead of just a scar, and/or also since for the more severe damage, he couldn’t heal it completely without exhausting himself. As it was, Merlin could already see that he looked wiped out underneath his mask of determination. How long had he been unconscious, he wondered? And how far away was his friend from collapse?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” he asked. He thought it might help Lancelot stay awake to talk to him, and he genuinely had no memory of how he might’ve ended up in the woods with a serious gut wound. There were no other knights around that he could see, or Arthur, thank god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You insisted that we go out, without backup, at night, to try to take down the bugbear haunting Camelot, and got mauled.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, of course we should go out alone at night, that’s the only way I’d be able to use my magic effectively.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, you got mauled,” Lancelot scolded, sounding exasperated. His patience always did seem to get shorter when he was tired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but did I defeat the bear?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I suppose you did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then mission accomplished.” The knight just heaved a very heavy, weary sigh at that. Merlin fell quiet to let him concentrate, and it was just a few minutes more until the healer removed his hands from his head and stomach, only to quickly grab onto the tree he sat near for stability. The shroud of numbness disappeared, replaced by a throbbing ache that wasn't unbearable but was uncomfortable. He started to sit up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What part of don't move did you not understand?" Lancelot grumbled. "I'm not done healing it. I just need a short nap before I can finish, but if you move and tear what I have done, I swear I'll kill you myself."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, okay, I won't move," Merlin agreed, but he did shift his hand to pat the ground beside him. "You better lie down next to me, then, to keep me company so I don't get restless."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lancelot smiled and lowered himself, on somewhat shaky arms, down beside his friend. He stretched out on his back with a groan. Though he was clearly drifting off already, a clear result of the exhaustion that came from healing other people’s major wounds quickly, he took Merlin’s hand in his and squeezed it tightly before his grip slackened in sleep.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feedback is always appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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